It was great news that the World Health Organisation travel advisory against non-essential travel to Hong Kong was lifted on May 23. But in its wake, SARS has left a trail of economic devastation from which Hong Kong needs to recover. And this recovery is not counted in days, but in months and perhaps in years. This is why the Chamber submitted to the Hong Kong Government a plan which is known as the "555" plan. It is so named because of the phasing therein -- five weeks, five months, and five years, which correspond to what we describe to be the recovery action of "reinvigorate," "relaunch" and "rebuild" respectively.

You can find the entire proposed plan on page 24, but basically, the first phase is a communications and confidence phase. This involves not only the government, but all of us telling our overseas contacts that we are winning the war against SARS, that we continue to be confident about Hong Kong and they should continue to do business with us. The Chamber sent over 300 letters to business associations around the world telling them this story in early May, and it also sent out to its 4,000 members a sample letter telling the same story to our members' overseas contacts.

It also wrote letters to hundreds of newspapers around the world. And it will be working with the International Business Community in Hong Kong and Operation Unite on programs to build confidence during this time-for example, the "celebration" event on June 7.

Phase II is when we do a five month promotion, inviting renowned figures in business and culture to come to Hong Kong, and conducting international conferences here. Chamber members will be going to the four corners of the world to talk about our comeback, and Chamber programs will all have the theme: "Doing Business in Hong Kong after SARS." Business visitors will be encouraged to return, and we would expect Mainland and regional tourists to start coming back too.

But ultimately, we have to be realistic. This is a city where diseases may strike again, and even this one time has left scars in the minds of many visitors. Therefore, in the next five years, during Phase III, we must turn this place into a model of good environmental health and cleanliness with the ability of managing future health crisis. Our Chairman in this issue laid out some of his thoughts on that. But public education and awareness and a fundamental change in attitude need to accompany deep structural changes here.